Australian capital gives go-ahead to gay marriage

Gay couples are expected to flood to Canberra to wed after the Australian
capital became the first state in the country to approve same sex marriage

Same-sex couples are now legally allowed to wed in Canberra, AustraliaPhoto: REUTERS

By Flynn Murphy

10:57AM BST 22 Oct 2013

Same-sex couples are now legally allowed to wed in the Australian Capital Territory after a same-sex marriage law passed the 17-seat unicameral legislature by one vote on Tuesday.

"There is no longer any excuse, if there ever was, to discriminate against same-sex couples in our community,” ACT chief minister Katy Gallagher told the parliament.

But a High Court challenge from the federal government led by conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott could render the celebrations in Canberra short-lived.

Mr Abbott has previously said he felt "threatened" by homosexuality, and was criticised for referring to same-sex marriage as the "fashion of the moment" in Australia’s recent election campaign. All eight conservative party members of the ACT legislature voted against the law.

But the federal government says the challenge is about ensuring marriage laws are “nationally consistent” around Australia.

Australia’s federal marriage law was amended in 2004 to define it as being between a man and a woman.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister’s sister Christine Forster, who is gay and revealed this week she was engaged to long-time partner Virginia Edwards, has told local media she hopes the legislation survives the challenge.

As things stand, a legislated “cooling off period” common to marriage legislation means the first marriages could take place in December — unless the government seeks an injunction while it challenges the legislation.

If the legislation does survive it will not extend beyond the Australian Capital Territory, which has a population of just over 350,000 concentrated largely in Canberra, unless other states and territories choose to recognise the law.

Same-sex unions are available in a majority of Australian states but because marriage comes under federal legislation these couples are not formally recognised as married by the government.

Constitutional lawyer George Williams, who helped the ACT redraft the laws before they were passed on Tuesday to help them withstand the federal challenge, told the Telegraph it was impossible to say if a challenge would succeed.

A federal same-sex marriage bill was rejected by the parliament 98-42 last year, and Ms Forster has called on Mr Abbott’s party to allow individual members a conscience vote — as the Labor Party did — if similar legislation is introduced in the future.